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First Greek Civil War (2024-2027)
After the second Euro crisis, the Greek government in Athens all but collapsed because of continuing protests and parts of the military rebelling. At the height of the chaotic January protests in Athens, the upstart Greek general Typhon Vallas led a military coup to overthrow president Prokopis Pavlopoulos that succeeded in killing the president but not taking the city. Vallas retreated to the second largest city in the country, Thessaloniki, to build an army and wage war against the loyalist forces of Alkiviadis Stefanis, the commander of the Hellenic army who upon president Pavlopoulos' death ascended to the presidency in a lanslide emergency election of the parliament.Divisions still loyal to Athens moved into the country's west and gathered in the city of Lamia, who under the command of Stefanis would take as much of the eastern part of the country as he could before being repeatedly defeated by Vallas' much more coordinated force. Burrasca, loyal to the home country while still being an independent nation, sent men and supplies to assist the loyalists under the command of the "immigrant general" Akinwande and his staff. Early Conflict (Jan. 2024- Dec. 2024) Throughout early 2024 both sides avoided each other save for occasional missile strikes, air raids, and skirmishes. The opening year saw the rebel navy assault outlying islands such as Kriti and the Greek naval base at Souda Bay. The deciding battle where Burrasca decided to supply loyalist forces and to send men was at the first battle of Souda Bay, where the faster loyalist navy outpaced the rebel frigates and killed the rebel admiral in the first few hours of battle, causing mass confusion in the rebel ranks. War in the East (Dec. 2024 - Nov. 2025) Throughout the opening year of the war skirmishes occurred day in and day out. The loyalist army under Stefanis moved up the E92 highway and took city after rebel city, beseiging cities such as Palamis and Larissa. The smaller army of Vallas avoided the loyalist army, and covered their tracks so to say when it came to cities. When the loyalists took a city and moved on, the rebels would take it back and disappear into the countryside. The first major battle occurred in early july on the foothills of the mountain of Pindos, and resulted in the defeat and retreat of Stefanis' loyalists due to fast-moving rebel guerrillas heavily disrupting loyalist supply lines. The battle of would be the first defeat in a disastrous summer for Stefanis. After his defeat at the battle of Mestovo, Stefanis moved the bulk of his force to Ioannia, and spread his resources out in an effort to use his army's numerical superiority to defeat Vallas in a war of attrition. Vallas and the rebels went on the defensive and fortified what they had already taken in and around Ioannia, and planted themselves firmly for the long fight. As August dragged into September and September dragged into October, Neither side was getting much of anywhere. Vallas had been diagnosed with a minor colon cancer and was back in <> for surgery, and Stefanis' micromanagement was getting the Loyalist forces nowhere besides victories in minor skirmishes. Attrition was getting no side anywhere The break came in late October. The Immigrant General Akinwande was reassigned to the Eastern front and given full strategic control over Loyalist troops. Akinwande knew that a direct assault anywhere would prove fatal, so he ordered his troops to move to key pressure points and push up into the hills surrounding Ioannia. The toughest fighting was around the small village of Krapsi, where rebel artillery had been placed for most of the rebel campaign to take Ioannia. Since the rebels had held the high ground after Stefanis' defeat, any charge would have been suicide; the fight uphill was brutal and bloody, but a colonel's controversial call to use unrestricted bombing on the village broke the rebel lines, as their mortars and artillery were set up near major civilian locations lie the city hall and school and were destroyed in the strikes. Akinwande's war eventually pushed the rebels back to their lines at the city of Mestovo and they were about to break when Stefains turned his eyes back to the eastern front. Stefanis and Akinwande had many differences; Akinwande wanted to continue pressuring the rebels lightly and steadily push them back but Stefanis wanted an all out assault to show Athens that the war could be won quickly. The general staff rallied behind their commander Stefanis and Akinwande, not wanting to make the leadership unstable, went along with the plan. In the second battle of Mestovo, chaos rained supreme. Akinwande was near the front lines directing artillery strikes and providing orders for the assault to great effect. Stefanis was watching carefully though, and saw Akinwande using his soldiers in ways that would gain tactical advantages faster but lose more lives and felt deeply insulted. He began giving direct orders to Akinwande's forces, and conflicting orders led to a collapse in the left flank that was fighting its way around the lake to the north road. This had a domino effect, with Akinwande's force losing many tanks to a rebel counterattack. The battle of Mestovo was a sound victory for the rebels and showed fractures in the loyalist leadership that would continue until the end of the Siege of Patras and Burrasca's departure from the war. Warpath to Patras (Nov. 2025- Nov. 2026) Vallas, his cancer now in remission and an army on a morale high after their victory in the second battle of Mestovo at his disposal, began his campaign to take Athens by barreling down the western coast of Greece. He won several victories for the rebels: Ioannia and Paramythia fell in the weeks after Mestovo, while he laid siege to Igoumenitsa and convinced the governor of Korfu province to defect, and in the process stealing loyalist ships docked there. After this string of defeats, Athens lost faith in Stefanis and talk of a recall began to circulate in the capital. When Stefanis caught wind of the Parliament's plan, he initiated a military coup d'etat and gained control of the loyalist side of the country. The general staff was loyal to Stefanis and not the government, and supported him, ultimately making the Spring coup a success. Akinwande sent his concerns back to the secretive Burrascan board of directors, who shared his concerns but ordered Akinwande to see the conflict through so Burrasca could further its goals of eventually controlling western Greece. The coup d'etat, while ensuring Stefanis had total control over the military's actions, caused mass chaos and allowed the rebels to advance farther to Amfilochia, which they laid siege to. Akinwande had been using the city as a command post when the coup occurred and deemed it too risky to move further behind loyalist lines in the chaos surrounding it and was surrounded by the Rebels. The Burrascan expeditionary force, still loyal only to Akinwande, retreated to the city limits and built fortifications while the regular army sorted itself out. Akinwande used the regular Greek troops as cover for his Burrascans to retreat, and organized a defense that would last until the treaty in 2027, where Amfilochia was ceded to the rebels. Stefanis was livid when the events in Amfilochia during the coup reached him. Akinwande had constantly disregarded the lives of his soldiers and put Burrascans before them. Akinwande won almost every battle he fought when he was not meddled with, but casualty reports we off of the charts for Greek regulars. Since Stefanis could not risk losing the Burrascan shield tech that had served him so well, he recalled Akinwande to Patras and told him to fortify the city before the rebel advance arrived. The rebels steadily advanced over the summer and reached the Gulf of Corinth by November, only to be greeted by Akinwande who had had 4 months and the Burrascan corps of engineers to build a defense. The war was coming to a close, and Patras was the only thing standing between the Rebels and the prize jewel of Greece, Athens. It would be a long winter. The Siege of Patras (Nov. 2026 - Aug. 2027)